Tag: cfo

Her family assured the court she would remain in Vancouver if she was granted bail, according to the court documents. Earlier on Sunday, China’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador to lodge a “strong protest” over the arrest, and said the United States should withdraw its arrest warrant. China urged the United States to withdraw the arrest warrant, Le added. The U.S. case against Meng involves Skycom Tech, which Huawei has described as one of its “major local partners” in Iran. Reuters

Her family assured the court she would remain in Vancouver if she was granted bail, according to the court documents. Her husband said he plans to bring the couple’s daughter to Vancouver to attend school during the proceedings. Meng will be back in the court for a bail hearing on Monday.

Huawei, the world’s biggest supplier of telecoms network equipment and second biggest smartphone seller, did not offer an immediate comment on the court documents. The company, a market leader across many countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, previously said it has complied with all applicable rules.

Earlier on Sunday, China’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador to lodge a “strong protest” over the arrest, and said the United States should withdraw its arrest warrant.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told U.S. ambassador Terry Branstad the United States had made an “unreasonable demand” on Canada to detain Meng while she was passing through Vancouver, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

“The actions of the U.S. seriously violated the lawful and legitimate rights of the Chinese citizen, and by their nature were extremely nasty,” Le told Branstad.

China urged the United States to withdraw the arrest warrant, Le added. “China will respond further depending on U.S. actions,” he said, without elaborating.

On Saturday, Le warned the Canadian ambassador there would be severe consequences if it did not immediately release Meng.

There was no immediate reaction from Canada. On Friday, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Canada’s relationship with China was important, and the country’s ambassador in Beijing has assured the Chinese consular access will be provided to Meng.

The United States has been looking since at least 2016 into whether Huawei shipped U.S.-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws, Reuters reported in April.

The U.S. case against Meng involves Skycom Tech, which Huawei has described as one of its “major local partners” in Iran. Huawei used Skycom’s Tehran office to provide mobile network equipment to several major telecommunications companies in Iran, people familiar with the company’s operations have told Reuters.

In December 2012, Reuters reported that documents showed Skycom had tried to sell embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment in 2010 to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator.

Reuters later reported that Skycom had much closer ties to Huawei and Meng than previously known.

In Canadian court papers made public on Friday, an investigation by U.S. authorities found Huawei operated Skycom as an “unofficial subsidiary” to conduct business in Iran.

Huawei said its Iran operations were “in strict compliance with applicable laws, regulations and sanctions” of the United Nations, United States and European Union, according to Canadian court documents released on Sunday.

U.S. officials allege that Meng and other Huawei representatives misled financial institutions about Huawei’s control of Skycom, so the Chinese company could gain access to the international banking system. As a result, an unidentified financial institution cleared more than $100 million worth of transactions related to Skycom through the U.S. between 2010 and 2014, the court papers said.

On Thursday, Reuters identified HSBC Holdings as one of the banks involved in the Meng case and, citing sources, reported that the probe included possible bank fraud.

Companies are barred from using the U.S. financial system to funnel goods and services to sanctioned entities.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said on Sunday he would “100 percent absolutely” introduce a measure in the new Congress that would ban Chinese telecom companies from doing business in the United States.

“We have to understand Chinese companies are not like American companies. OK. We can’t even get Apple to crack an iPhone for us in a terrorist investigation,” he told CBS “Face the Nation.”

“When the Chinese ask a telecom company, we want you to turn over all the data you’ve gathered in the country you’re operating in, they will do it. No court order. Nothing like that. They will just do it. They have to. We need to understand that.”

Rubio was a strong critic of China’s ZTE Corp, which pleaded guilty in 2017 to violating U.S. laws that restrict the sale of American-made technology to Iran.

The arrest of Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Canada, reportedly related to a violation of U.S. sanctions, will corrode trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, risk consultancy Eurasia Group said Thursday. “Beijing is likely to react angrily to this latest arrest of a Chinese citizen in a third country for violating U.S. law,” Eurasia analysts wrote. Canada’s Department of Justice said on Wednesday the country arrested Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, where she is facing extradit

The arrest of Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Canada, reportedly related to a violation of U.S. sanctions, will corrode trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, risk consultancy Eurasia Group said Thursday.

“Beijing is likely to react angrily to this latest arrest of a Chinese citizen in a third country for violating U.S. law,” Eurasia analysts wrote.

In fact, Global Times — a hyper-nationalistic tabloid tied to the Chinese Communist Party — responded to the arrest by posting on Twitter a statement about trade war escalation it attributed to an expert “close to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.”

“China should be fully prepared for an escalation in the #tradewar with the US, as the US will not ease its stance on China, and the recent arrest of the senior executive of #Huawei is a vivid example,” said the statement, paired with a photo of opposing fists with Chinese and American flags superimposed upon them.

Canada’s Department of Justice said on Wednesday the country arrested Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, where she is facing extradition to the U.S. The arrest is related to violations of U.S. sanctions, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

U.S. authorities have been probing Huawei, one of the world’s largest makers of telecommunications network equipment, since at least 2016 for allegedly shipping U.S.-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws, sources told Reuters in April.

The analysts said the Huawei executive’s arrest will not derail the start of trade negotiations after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting last weekend in Argentina saw them agree to first steps to resolve their trade dispute. Still, they acknowledged, the incident involving Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is likely to cloud talks.

The stock-trading platform hired Amazon veteran Jason Warnick as its first-ever chief financial officer, Robinhood announced in a blog post. The company had been looking to fill the role as part of its long-term strategy to go public, Robinhood co-CEO Baiju Bhatt said in September. Being a public company “closely aligns” with Robinhood’s mission and is something its executives think “is very much in the future,” Bhatt said on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. “I’m thri

The stock-trading platform hired Amazon veteran Jason Warnick as its first-ever chief financial officer, Robinhood announced in a blog post. The company had been looking to fill the role as part of its long-term strategy to go public, Robinhood co-CEO Baiju Bhatt said in September.

Being a public company “closely aligns” with Robinhood’s mission and is something its executives think “is very much in the future,” Bhatt said on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. He said an IPO would not be in the immediate future but it’s “something we’re thinking about.”

Warnick joined Amazon in 1999 and was most recently serving as vice president of finance and chief of staff to the e-commerce giant’s CFO Brian Olsavsky.

“I’m thrilled to join the amazing team at Robinhood and look forward to advancing our mission to democratize America’s financial system,” Warnick, who starts at Robinhood next week, said in a blog post.

Menlo Park, California-based Robinhood is known for its zero-fee trading platform that rolled out about three years ago. It’s mostly used by millennials age 18 to 35, and also offers ETFs, options and, as of February, cryptocurrency trading. In October, it launchedan independent clearing system that allows Robinhood to independently clear and settle transactions and provide custody for assets.

Its brokerage account growth has skyrocketed this year: Total accounts jumped to 6 million in October, up from 5 million in August and 4 million in May, according to the company.

The home-sharing start-up is announcing Monday that Dave Stephenson will join Airbnb as chief financial officer. He spent 17 years at Amazon, most recently as VP and CFO of Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer Organization, responsible for all global website sales. Former Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak added, “I had the pleasure of working with Dave during his long and distinguished career at Amazon. Dave’s high judgement, strong business partnering skills, and exceptional leadership capabilities position him we

The home-sharing start-up is announcing Monday that Dave Stephenson will join Airbnb as chief financial officer. He spent 17 years at Amazon, most recently as VP and CFO of Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer Organization, responsible for all global website sales. Former Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak added, “I had the pleasure of working with Dave during his long and distinguished career at Amazon. Dave’s high judgement, strong business partnering skills, and exceptional leadership capabilities position him weAirbnb poaches another Amazon exec to be its CFO Cached Page below :Company: cnbc, Activity: cnbc, Date: 2018-11-26 Authors: deirdre bosaKeywords: news, cnbc, companies, airbnb, role, company, poaches, dave, exec, cfo, amazon, stephenson, growth, vp, startup

After a search that’s lasted nearly 10 months, Airbnb finally has a CFO.

The home-sharing start-up is announcing Monday that Dave Stephenson will join Airbnb as chief financial officer. He spent 17 years at Amazon, most recently as VP and CFO of Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer Organization, responsible for all global website sales. His time at Amazon was interrupted by a two-year stint at Big Fish Games from 2011 to 2013, where he held a number of titles, including president and CFO.

The hire brings Airbnb another step closer to a potential IPO in 2019, filling a position that had been vacant since February, when Laurence Tosi left the company amid rumors of tensions with Airbnb co-founder and CEO, Brian Chesky.

In a blog post, Airbnb said that in his most recent role at Amazon, Stephenson “oversaw gross merchandise sales in excess of $250 billion and helped the business achieve double digit revenue and operating profit growth over the past four years.”

“Dave is one of the best financial operators in the world and there’s no one better prepared to serve as our CFO,” Chesky said in a statement. “I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved, but Airbnb is just getting started. In the years ahead, Dave will be Airbnb’s quarterback for long-term growth, driving us to be even more efficient and leverage what makes Airbnb unique to create new businesses and continue to expand.”

Former Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak added, “I had the pleasure of working with Dave during his long and distinguished career at Amazon. Dave successfully led the Finance function for many diverse and rapidly growing areas of the company including Retail, Marketplace and AWS, and built outstanding Finance teams along the way. Dave’s high judgement, strong business partnering skills, and exceptional leadership capabilities position him well for success in his new role as CFO of Airbnb.”

Airbnb is one of the big anticipated IPOs of next year. Stephenson brings public company experience to the start-up and played a role in the integration of Amazon’s biggest acquisitions, Whole Foods and Zappos.

Earlier this month, Airbnb shared a quarterly revenue figure with the public for the first time in its decade-long history. It came less than a week after a Morgan Stanley report suggested that Airbnb’s growth in the U.S. and some regions in Europe, its most mature markets, was slowing.

Stephenson isn’t the first Amazon executive that Airbnb has poached this year. In March, the start-up hired Greg Greeley, former VP of Amazon Prime and delivery experience, as its president of Homes. Greeley was with Amazon for 18 years.

Last week the White House curtailed Navarro’s role in shaping U.S. trade policy after Navarro engaged in a public clash with top economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who favors deescalating tensions with China. Forty percent of North American CFOs say they approve of how Kudlow is handling the economy, and just under 27 percent disapprove. About a quarter of North America CFOs seem to think Congress should serve as a check on the Trump administration’s worrisome trade policy, but they do not think tra

White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro is at the bottom of the list, with 60 percent of North American CFOs disapproving of his handling of the economy, followed by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and President Donald Trump (53.3 percent).

Navarro has been an aggressive proponent of continued punitive tariffs for China and has been seen as the person fuelling Trump’s personal obsession with reducing trade deficits. Last week the White House curtailed Navarro’s role in shaping U.S. trade policy after Navarro engaged in a public clash with top economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who favors deescalating tensions with China. However, the White House also said it is making no changes to its current tariffs on Chinese goods and still may go ahead with steeper duties on the largest portion ($200 billion) of the affected goods in January. Forty percent of North American CFOs say they approve of how Kudlow is handling the economy, and just under 27 percent disapprove.

About a quarter of North America CFOs seem to think Congress should serve as a check on the Trump administration’s worrisome trade policy, but they do not think trade should be the No. 1 priority for Congress in 2019, with just under 27 percent citing it as the top congressional issue. “Infrastructure” legislation has more support among CFOs.

(Note: The CNBC Global CFO Council Survey for the fourth quarter was conducted from Nov. 13–19, 2018. Thirty-seven of the 121 global members responded to the survey , including 15 North America members, 13 EMEA members and 9 APAC members.)

Thirty-five percent of CFOs surveyed in Q4 cited trade as their biggest current concern, making it the top issue in the fourth quarters. 1 concern of CFOs in Q3, and fell off by a considerable percentage as CFO concerns about trade hit their highest quarterly mark in 2018. The percentage of CFOs citing central bank policy as their biggest concern increased slightly, from 10 percent to 13.5 percent, but near-60 percent of CFOs expect the Federal Reserve to raise rates again in December. (Note: Th

Concerns about a slowing economy — Goldman Sachs said on Monday in a report that U.S. economic growth could be cut in half by the end of next year as the tax cuts wear off and rates rise — and worries about another round of tariffs against China set for January in the ongoing trade war are weighing on the corporate outlook.

Thirty-five percent of CFOs surveyed in Q4 cited trade as their biggest current concern, making it the top issue in the fourth quarters.

CFOs were also asked their opinion of major political figures in Washington, and President Trump’s hardline trade advisors, Peter Navarro and Robert Lighthizer, had by far the lowest approval ratings among CFOs, at 26.7 percent. Last week, as stocks suffered another steep selloff, the White House was sending mixed messages on trade, with President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, disavowing comments from White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, who last week lashed out at Wall Street influence in U.S.-China trade negotiations in comments that helped weaken the stock market.

The stock decline on Monday came after a Sunday speech by Vice President Mike Pence saying there would be no end to U.S. charges on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods unless Beijing changed its ways.

Consumer demand was the second biggest risk cited by CFOs, at 24 percent. But it had been the No. 1 concern of CFOs in Q3, and fell off by a considerable percentage as CFO concerns about trade hit their highest quarterly mark in 2018. The percentage of CFOs citing central bank policy as their biggest concern increased slightly, from 10 percent to 13.5 percent, but near-60 percent of CFOs expect the Federal Reserve to raise rates again in December.

While the market volatility is clearly weighing on CFOs, and the political headlines continue to increase uncertainty, CFOs were still mostly positive on the global macroeconomic conditions in Q4, with every region around the globe being rated as “stable.” The United States, in particular, was the only region described as “improving,” which is a tag the U.S. has received from CFOs taking the survey for eight quarters in a row.

(Note: The CNBC Global CFO Council Survey for the fourth quarter was conducted from Nov. 13–19, 2018. Thirty-seven of the 121 global members responded to the survey, including 15 North America members, 13 EMEA members and 9 APAC members.)

Facebook CFO David Wehner has joined the board of Alector, a biotech company that is working to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. This is the first time that Wehner has joined a board outside of Facebook since he took the job in 2014. But his predecessor, David Ebersman, followed a similar path, leaving Facebook to start a mental health company called Lyra Health. Wehner isn’t the only executive at the company to seek opportunities outside of his day job. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CFO David Wehner has joined the board of Alector, a biotech company that is working to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

This is the first time that Wehner has joined a board outside of Facebook since he took the job in 2014. He previously served on the board of StubHub.

It might seem like an unusual choice for Wehner, whose career has spanned technology and finance, rather than health care. But his predecessor, David Ebersman, followed a similar path, leaving Facebook to start a mental health company called Lyra Health. Ebersman also had a background in biotech.

The appointment comes at a time when employee morale at Facebook has plunged. A recent internal survey reportedly found that 52 percent of employees were optimistic about the company’s future, down from 84 percent a year ago.

Wehner isn’t the only executive at the company to seek opportunities outside of his day job.

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes a break every quarter to hear from scientists from the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub talk about their research. (Zuckerberg is one of the largest investors in the Biohub and he serves on its board alongside his wife, Priscilla Chan, and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.).

A quarter of Venmo users are currently using PayPal’s millennial-friendly payments app in a way that the financial technology company can monetize, PayPal Chief Financial Officer John Rainey told CNBC on Friday. “If we look at the most recent quarter, roughly one in four Venmo customers are using Venmo in a way today that we’re able to monetize,” Rainey said in an exclusive interview with “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer. “That could be with using Venmo to shop online, it could be using our physical

A quarter of Venmo users are currently using PayPal’s millennial-friendly payments app in a way that the financial technology company can monetize, PayPal Chief Financial Officer John Rainey told CNBC on Friday.

“If we look at the most recent quarter, roughly one in four Venmo customers are using Venmo in a way today that we’re able to monetize,” Rainey said in an exclusive interview with “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer.

“That could be with using Venmo to shop online, it could be using our physical card in a store, or it could be using the instant cash withdrawal so they can transfer funds immediately into their bank account,” the CFO continued.

Speaking after PayPal’s strong earnings report sent shares of the payments giant up more than 9 percent in Friday’s trading session, Rainey reiterated CEO Dan Schulman’s comments about Venmo reaching a “tipping point.”

“It’s a bit of an inflection point for us,” Rainey told Cramer, whose charitable trust owns shares of PayPal. “We saw growth … of almost 80 percent in terms of total volume for Venmo in the quarter. That’s the second quarter in a row that we’ve grown at that rate, and so we’re just really excited about what we’re seeing with this part of our platform.”

While Venmo was a key driver for PayPal this quarter, it wasn’t the company’s only win: the fintech player added 9.1 million net new active users to its platform, an all-time record, announced an expanded partnership with American Express and struck a new agreement with Walmart to offer deposit and withdrawal services at its stores.

Rainey said the partnerships would be instrumental to drawing even more customers to PayPal’s increasingly “relevant” platform, which now boasts over a quarter of a billion users.

Moreover, PayPal is still focused on the roughly two billion people around the world who don’t have access to financial services that many people “take for granted,” like banking or checking accounts, he said.

“Financial inclusion is part of our mission,” he told Cramer. “The key element of those two billion people is that roughly 70 percent of them have a mobile device. And this is where our value proposition really shines, where we can put all of the power of mobile commerce in the palm of their hand.”

That, paired with the almost “viral” popularity of the Venmo app, sets PayPal apart from traditional financial services companies or even newer fintech competitors, Rainey said.

“There are very few companies, Jim, that I would put into the same category as us,” the CFO said. “We’re a high-growth company, but we also generate a tremendous amount of free cash flow for a growth company like ours.”

Investors in fintech company Square don’t seem to approve of the departure of CFO Sarah Friar, but CEO Jack Dorsey certainly does. Analysts and tech insiders saw Friar’s departure as a major blow to Square. In a screenshot of an iPhone text message captured by Friar, Dorsey imparted three suggestions that amounted to career counseling for the newly minted CEO. “In considering what you’re about to take on, I believe it’s best to highlight some challenges you’ll likely face. I have no doubt you’ll

Investors in fintech company Square don’t seem to approve of the departure of CFO Sarah Friar, but CEO Jack Dorsey certainly does.

On Thursday, Square’s stock plunged by as much as 16 percent before rebounding with a 7.2 percent gain on Friday, as markets reacted to the news that Friar was departing to become CEO of Nextdoor, a social network that helps neighbors communicate with each other. Yet on Friday, Friar shared a personal message that Dorsey — who also sits at the helm of Twitter — sent her in the wake of the announcement applauding Friar’s decision.

Analysts and tech insiders saw Friar’s departure as a major blow to Square. Friar was viewed as a particularly effective second in command, though Dorsey said this week that no one executive is responsible for execution at the company.

However, Twitter’s chief used the occasion to gave his protege some sage leadership advice.

In a screenshot of an iPhone text message captured by Friar, Dorsey imparted three suggestions that amounted to career counseling for the newly minted CEO. “In considering what you’re about to take on, I believe it’s best to highlight some challenges you’ll likely face. I have no doubt you’ll be able to overcome all,” Dorsey wrote.

Shares of fintech company Square plunged as much as 15 percent Thursday after the company lost its CFO Sarah Friar. Friar’s departure from Square sent shares down 8 percent in extended trading. Analysts and tech insiders saw Friar’s departure as a major blow to Square, whose CEO Jack Dorsey also runs Twitter. The overall tech sector stumbled Thursday, as the market sell-off and rotation out of tech continued. The tech sector suffered its worst day in over seven years Wednesday.

Shares of fintech company Square plunged as much as 15 percent Thursday after the company lost its CFO Sarah Friar.

Friar announced Wednesday she was leaving Square to become CEO at Nextdoor, a social network that helps neighbors communicate with each other. Friar’s departure from Square sent shares down 8 percent in extended trading. The stock added to its losses Thursday morning, falling as low as $65.

Analysts and tech insiders saw Friar’s departure as a major blow to Square, whose CEO Jack Dorsey also runs Twitter. Friar was seen as a particularly effective second-in-command, though Dorsey said Wednesday night that no one executive is responsible for execution at the company.

The overall tech sector stumbled Thursday, as the market sell-off and rotation out of tech continued. The tech sector suffered its worst day in over seven years Wednesday.

The sector regained some ground in premarket trading, but fell back into the red by mid-morning trading.

Square is one of the strongest performing tech stocks this year, more than doubling in value in the last 12 months. With Thursday’s drop, shares have cratered 30 percent in the last week.